Kiwis in the Overseas Final - 1983
By Tracy Holmes

Belle Vue hosted this years event on July 17. To set the scene, this was from Speedway Star; "With most of the country still basking in heatwave temperatures, storm clouds settled over Manchester and left the Belle Vue track littered with puddles."

So it was going to be an even harder battle for the 10 available spots to the Intercontinental Final at White City on August 7.

This turned out to be nay bother for the NZ reps, Mitch Shirra and Larry Ross. They enjoyed a safe passage while Shawn Moran, World Number 2 Les Collins, Belle Vue Super hero Peter Collins and John Davis were all sensationally knocked out.

Heat 1. Sanders, SHIRRA, Andy Grahame, Peter Collins nf.

2. ROSS, Lee, C Morton, Sigalos.

5. Lee, SHIRRA, Taylor, Faria.

8. Carter, ROSS, Andy Grahame, Davis.

9. Ph Collins, Sigalos, SHIRRA, Carter.

11. S Moran, ROSS, P Collins, Taylor.

13. SHIRRA, C Morton, S Moran, Davis.

14. ROSS, PH Collins, Sanders, Faria fall.

17. SHIRRA, King, L Collins, ROSS.

Run-off for 2nd. Carter, SHIRRA.

Phil Collins 12. Kenny Carter 11. MITCH SHIRRA 11. Billy Sanders 10. LARRY ROSS 10. Dennis Sigalos 9. Andy Grahame 9. Chris Morton 9. Mike Lee 8. Lance King 8. All qualify.

Shawn Moran 7. Les Collins 6. John Davis 4. Peter Collins 3. Glyn Taylor 2. Mike Faria 1.

Reserves; Paul Woods, Phil Crump, Rick Miller and Kiwi ALAN MASON, all dnr.

1981 - 1982 - 1983 - 1984 - 1985 - 1986 - 1987 - 1988 - 1989 - 1990 - 1991 - 1992 - 1993 - 1994 - 1995 - 1996 - 1997 - 1998 - 1999 - 2000/01

This article was first published on 31st December 2017